NBA Rush Review

A good-looking if dull endless runner that has no sense of urgency or momentum.

It’s 1993, and Michael Jordan’s looking to switch careers – intending to leave basketball behind, instead taking up baseball. Unfortunately for him, aliens have invaded and Bugs Bunny… Wait, no – that’s Space Jam. Well, NBA Rush is a bit like Space Jam, but it doesn’t have Bugs Bunny, or a plot, or Michael Jordan. It does have the NBA license, though. It’s an endless runner that’s endlessly boring, with an endless dearth of imagination. Endless.

There’s about as much excitement here as selling fried potatoes in an English chip shop. It’s your typical endless runner – dribbling through desolate urban environments while switching between three lanes, jumping over and sliding under things. Sometimes you pick items up which allow you to leap into the air and slam dunk a UFO. Which isn’t as exciting as it sounds, with the player just tapping the flying saucer instead.

On occasion you'll come across other objects, like coins, and you can also choose to crush grounded aliens with drills – because aliens have drills now – like the worst Mario ever. there's more pick-ups, like magnets for hoovering up coins, or boots that increase your jump height. It’s all very unexceptional, but it does have that NBA license, if you’re easily suckered by that sort of cynical fleecing of fanbases.

Worst of all, for an endless runner there’s no sense of momentum – your avatar keeps a constant pace throughout and it lacks a sense of urgency. It doesn’t help that the obstacles you jump over or slide under are just copy and pasted into each section of the track. It all leads to the feeling that you’re making no progress.

It does look quite nice, though, with smooth animations and little touches like a trick dribble as your player switches between lanes. It’s also F2P done right – from a player’s perspective, at least. I was never tempted to spend once. You will have to play a lot before you can afford to unlock your favourite player, mind. That’s what it all seems to be about, after all.